Libellules, butome en ombelle, nénuphars, panneau. Oiseaux-mouches et orchidées, étoffe. Oiseaux-mouches et capillaires, bordure. 1897

Maurice Pillard Verneuil made this pochoir print, "Libellules, butome en ombelle, nénuphars, panneau. Oiseaux-mouches et orchidées, étoffe. Oiseaux-mouches et capillaires, bordure," during the Art Nouveau movement, a period characterized by its embrace of organic forms and decorative aesthetics. Verneuil, deeply influenced by the botanical world and Japanese art, sought to democratize beauty through accessible design. This print exemplifies the Art Nouveau ethos of integrating art into everyday life, featuring stylized dragonflies, flowering rush, water lilies, hummingbirds, orchids, and maidenhair ferns in a harmonious composition intended for textiles or wallpaper. The careful symmetry and rhythmic repetition speak to a desire for order and beauty amid the rapid industrialization of the era. Verneuil’s choice of motifs—drawn from the natural world—reflects a longing for the pastoral idyll and a critique of the increasingly artificial environments of modern life. The print invites us to consider the relationship between nature and artifice, tradition and modernity, and how these tensions are woven into the fabric of our lives.